Not long ago I discovered the excellent work of the photographer Sandro Miller with the actor John Malkovich, published a couple of years ago, recreating a series of iconic photographs by some of the best photographers ago s.XX.

Malkovich is an actor who fascinates me for his histrionic ability, and this collection is an example of this; John not only slips into the skin of the characters portrayed and represent them with amazing fidelity, but also in each of these images John Malkovich is still there, showing that there is not a mere copy as a result of a good characterization and technological resources of post-production, but a masterful performance work brilliantly captured by Sandro's camera.To see the original pictures already published in the blog, click in the attached link. The others, alngo with the information about not yet published artists, at the end of the post.

This is the first of a pair of posts that publish reviewing the work of this great artist of photography.

Sandro Miller is an American photographer born in 1958 (working professionally as "Sandro") known for his expressive images, and his close work with John Malkovich and the other ensemble members of Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company.

He has been photographing people for over thirty years. He became interested in photography at the age of sixteen upon seeing the work of Irving Penn and has since devoted his life to creating expressive images.

With numerous award-winning campaigns to his credit, Sandro is one of today's foremost photographers. He has photographed many national advertising campaigns for a long list of clients including: Allstate Insurance, American Express, Anheuser-Busch, BMW, Dove, Gatorade, Coca-Cola, Honda, Pepsi, Milk, Nikon, Microsoft, Miller/Coors, Motorola, Nike, Adidas, Pony, UPS, Champion, and the US Army.

«I was pretty much self taught. When I was 16 years old I saw the work of Irving Penn as going through these magazine, I believe It was American Photography, and I remember laying in my bed going through these magazine and came across the shot of Pablo Picasso that Irving Penn took. These shot stopped me, I stopped at that page was so rich, it was so beautiful, so powerful. I did know much about Picasso, but after I saw the portrait I went looking at Picasso, I wanted to know more about him. And that was the definig moment in my life. It was at that point, right there, I knew that I wanted to create extremely powerful and emotional portraits.»

«Over the 17 years, John has never once said “No, I don’t like that idea, Sandro. I don’t want to participate.” Never once. He has gone with whatever I’ve asked him to do, sometimes with very little explanation of what I was thinking about. He’d sit down, listen to the idea, and then say “OK, let’s do it.”

All together, we’ve produced about 110 portraits, and had a grand time doing it.

The latest idea was my homage to the master photographers, called “Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich: Homage to the Masters.” What happened was, about 4.5 years ago, I came down with a Stage 4 cancer. It was very much on the edge whether I was going to make it or not.

I had a lot of time to think about my career, my past and my future. There was a point where I began to think, why did I make it to where I’m at today? Where did it come from? Was it one certain person? It came to me that it was the great photographers of the past, the iconic images from the masters that would make my knees buckle.

That’s why I am who I am. I wanted to be great enough to make images that did the same things to other people what these images are doing to me.»

«So I picked the 40 images that moved me more than anything in the world, and I went to Malkovich with a selection of those. I got on an airplane, went to the South of France, where John lives, and he loved the idea. I could see his head was turning, because this was perfect. He’s a theater guy. He becomes other people all the time.

The original photograph of Einstein with Dr Frank Aydelotte and his wife

A celebration was being held on the night of March 14 1951 at the Princeton Club by friends and colleagues of Dr. Einstein. It was the latter’s 72nd birthday. Photographers from all over the United States were there to cover the event much to the chagrin of unassuming professor.

Dr Frank Aydelotte, the former head of the Institute for Advanced Study, and his wife offered to drive Einstein home to 112 Mercer Street. As he entered the auto, the cameramen rushed to make ‘just one more’ picture. UPI photographer Arthur Sasse was trying to persuade him to smile for the camera, but having smiled for photographers many times that day, visibly tired Dr. Einstein decided to spoil potential photos sticking his tongue. Sasse made the iconic shot, but the other photographers surrounding the car missed it.

The appropriateness of the photo was heavily debated by Sasse’s editors before being published on International News Photos Network. It became one of the most popular photos ever taken of Einstein, who himself requested nine prints for his personal use.

Einstein sent the picture to friends as a greeting card. It was emblematic of a man who wore his hair long, a funny leather jacket, no socks, no suspenders, no collar, no tie.

Pierre et Gilles (Pierre Commoy, La Roche-sur-Yon, 1950 and Gilles Blanchard, Le Havre, 1953) are French artists and romantic partners. They produce highly stylized unique hand-painted photographs, building their own sets and costumes as well as retouching the photographs with acrylic paint. Their work often features images from art history, popular culture, religion and gay culture including pornography (especially James Bidgood).

Pierre et Gilles have sometimes attracted controversy. For example, in 2012 there was a public outcry in Austria when their work entitled Vive la France was displayed on large street posters to advertise the Nackte Männer (English: Naked Men) exhibition created by Ilse Haider at the Leopold Museum in Vienna. It depicts three naked French footballers with their genitals fully revealed: the first black, the second Arab/Muslim and the third white, to represent the multi-ethnic composition of modern French society. The ensuing controversy led to an act of self-censorship by the artists, who decided that the largest street posters should be changed, and instead use coloured ribbons to hide the players' genitals.

Victor Skrebneski is a photographer born in 1929 in Chicago to parents of Polish and Russian heritage.

He was educated at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1943 and attended the Illinois Institute of Technology from 1947 to 1949. He set up his own studio in Chicago in 1952.

Skrebneski is most known for his fashion photography and his work for the ad campaigns of the cosmetics company Estee Lauder, Inc. He has photographed various celebrities, including Cindy Crawford (whose first notable photos he took), Oprah Winfrey, Audrey Hepburn, Diana Ross, Hubert de Givenchy, Diahann Carroll and François Truffaut. He has created numerous other ad campaigns. Skrebneski's iconic black and white poster images shot for the Chicago International Film Festival often featured nude models and have become collectible over the years.

This is an open art blog, so you could find images eventually offensive or umconfortable.

If you're an artist and find here images of your art you want to be removed, just tell me and I'll do it immediately. I try to ask for permission always if artist is alive and there's a way to contact, bot not always is possible and there are things I think worth to be known.

In any case, the copyrights of all the images contained in this blog, except where noted, belong to the artists or the legal owners of such rights, and have been published nonprofit and for the only purpose of make the works known to the general public.

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